The cause of most conflict is ignorance. Lack of knowledge creates an environment where people distrust the motives of the other parties involved. And when people don't really understand what motivates the other party, they begin to act on a faulty set of assumptions.

What really works: sales incentives

There are some things in this world that just won't go away, no matter how much you wish they would. Ted Kennedy, your birthday and April 15 are a few examples that jump to mind. On Cape Cod, there's an old joke that summer doesn't officially begin until Teddy runs his car up on the sidewalk for the first time.

Darren McBride, president of Sierra Computers and Training in Reno, Nev., calls Ingram Micro's help in driving HIPAA-compliance solutions one of the crown jewels of being affiliated with the world's largest computer products distributor.

Innovation permeates the Tablet PC market, with the Tablet PC OS appearing on an increasing range of devices that provide both vertical and horizontal opportunities. CRN Test Center engineers reviewed new models from two leading Tablet PC vendors, Fujitsu and Motion Computing.

Though it lasted but a few minutes, the phone call that Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy placed to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer a year ago may ultimately go down as one of the most significant in the storied histories of these two technology giants. The two Detroit-area natives, who knew one another from their Harvard undergrad days and later at Stanford's Graduate School of Business, agreed to a simple golf game during the call. But both concur that McNealy's recreational invite set in motion a series of discussions that culminated in their landmark agreement last month.

With the tons of clip art and stock photos on the Web, you never know when you might select a photo that has already been used for an altogether different purpose. BEA Systems discovered as much when it chose a photo that already appeared in a rather sensitive advertisement.

Leonard DiCostanzo did what many business owners in the IT industry have done in the past three years. He sold his business, Turnkey Computer Systems of Clifton, N.J. The reasons were fairly simple and numerous: a full-fledged economic recession and IT spending shortfall, slumping product sales, and big integrators getting bigger with no real end in sight. But the most prominent factor for DiCostanzo was a yearning to get back in front of the customer and become the hands-on solution provider who founded Turnkey nearly two decades earlier.

By 6:30 a.m. most weekdays, Microsoft's Don Nelson is already at his desk with his PC fired up. As general manager of managed partners with Microsoft's worldwide partner sales and marketing group, Nelson can look forward to long hours, endless meetings and literally hundreds of e-mail messages on any given day. And yet, the wily veteran of Great Plains Software says he wouldn't want it any other way. "This is an intense place to work," he says.

Siwel Consulting had $45 million in sales for 2001 and was staring at the biggest challenge of its existence,a burst Internet bubble and a full economic recession. The solution provider was also based in the crowded New York region and specialized in IBM's xSeries Intel-based servers, a competitive market to say the least. All signs pointed to a tough, grueling future.

Robert Huang says he’s looking forward to a bright post-IPO future

It has been a busy year for Robert Huang, and 2004 isn't even half over yet. The chief executive of Synnex (No. 3 on the 2004 Distribution 25, page 48) has guided the company he founded nearly a quarter-century ago as it went public and its fast-growth story became a big headline in the distribution market.

As the fortunes of companies turn, VARs are switching their bets

Few decisions seal the fate of an IT consulting organization quite like the company it keeps. Picking the right vendor with an appropriate set of channel-friendly policies can set your company off in the right direction. Choose foolishly, however, and doom will follow your company like a hungry wolf.